Nothing Will Ever Be The Same
by FallToYourKnees
Summary: This will forever be the worst moment in Quinn Fabray-Berry's life.


Sometimes you wake up with a jolt, instantly alert, and sometimes it is more like you fade out of your dreams and slowly enter the real world. Today for Quinn Fabray, it was the latter. Her head felt fuzzy and the bright light was hurting her eyes as she tried to get her bearings.

Finally she focuses on the shape beside her, first the familiar dark brown hair, then the features of that beautiful face, then the dark eyes that she loves most of all. But Rachel's eyes are closed, and Quinn groans inside as she realises that she must have forgotten to set the alarm again. Rachel hates oversleeping. A smile crosses Quinn's face as she watches her though, her wife looks incredibly peaceful and beautiful when she is asleep.

Something is wrong, Quinn realises through the dull ache in her head. They don't seem to be in Rachel's bedroom at her apartment, or in Quinn's loft. The pain in her temple increases as she stares at the car door handle beside her, and the steering wheel in front of Rachel. Her confusion grows as she looks around at the trees, and notices the cracks running through the front windshield.

She turns back to Rachel, to wake her up and ask what is going on. It is then she sees what she first thought was red lipstick on her lover's face; looking again, the trickle of bright blood running down Rachel's chin is unmistakable. For a split second Quinn's next breath freezes in her chest with a painful twinge, then a choked gasp emerges as she stares wide-eyed at what is not a red top, but a blood stained white one. There is so much red, too much, and the enormity of what is happening suddenly crashes into Quinn's mind, her eyes fluttering closed with the sharp throbbing in her head. A second later she fights though the pain, trying several times to rid herself of the seatbelt that is digging into her body as she tries to reach the still woman beside her.

"Rachel, oh god no, oh please."

It is only as she gently touches her lover's face, willing those eyes to open and see her, willing that mouth to smile at her and kiss her again and again, that Quinn becomes aware of the voices shouting near the car. Three people have managed to climb down the steep bank that the car plunged down only minutes before.

"Are you okay?!"

Quinn can hardly register the worried look on the man's face before she is crying harder than she ever has before, holding Rachel to her, wanting nothing more than to feel her hugging back. After a few seconds the man gently pulls Quinn through her car door, and a younger blonde-haired man – he looks so young, maybe just a teenager, thinks Quinn – is leaning through Rachel's window, searching desperately for a pulse. A woman standing behind the boy, with the same colour hair, has her hands pressed to her face and tears rolling down her face; it is then that Quinn's heart truly drops to the ground, because this really is as bad as she thinks it is.

When the boy raises his head and sadly shakes it, Quinn doesn't even realise that the anguished scream is coming from herself. Through the pain in her temple she dully registers that there are now several people, trying to help her up the bank and to the waiting ambulance, but she can't leave Rachel sitting in that car by herself. Her struggle is in vain though as her vision blurs and her legs collapse.

In the ambulance, Quinn ignores the blur of activity around her as a paramedic checks her over and tries to reassure her. It is only when she feels a hand over her own that she looks up, into the sombre eyes of the boy. He simply holds her stare for a second before saying softly, "I am so sorry."

For a second Quinn has no words to offer in return. Then she lowers her gaze, made blurry by tears, to her hand. "Three days ago we decided to do something crazy." she hears herself say, her voice hoarse and tired. "So we got in the car and drove eight hours to New York City. Rachel loves Broadway, so we went to a couple of shows, and walked through Central Park twice because it's so beautiful. We saw everything we loved about New York." Quinn's voice catches and she closes her eyes, feeling the hot tears rolling down her face. "And then right before we left, she dragged me into this courtroom and asked me if I want to marry her, right then and there. She had a ring and everything, and she looked so, so beautiful..."

Quinn is crying too hard to continue, and the boy holding her hand is having trouble keeping his tears in too. He squeezes her hand once more, pausing as he sees the ring on her finger. For a few seconds he feels a wave of anger wash over him, that this broken woman has lost her wife while the man who was driving on the wrong side of the road towards them after a dozen beers is absolutely fine. Quinn opens her eyes and searches his face as he steps away from her, nods, and walks back to his parents nearby.

The ambulance doors are closing now and the paramedic is telling her that they are going to the hospital. Quinn wants to tell them to wait until Rachel is out of the car, that there was so much blood and she will have to come to the hospital too. But she is so tired now, the world feels as if it is fading. She tries to hold on for a little longer, because she knows that when she wakes up there will be no Rachel ever again. Nothing will ever be the same.


End file.
